How can I find out if the house I'm buying is on a council/social housing estate?

[Anonymouse2019]

We're in the conveyancing process on a house in a new area.

It was built in the 1960s but the earliest record of it being purchased is in the 1990s.

I wondered if there's a way to find out if the estate it is on is council owned.

For the record, I DON'T have a problem with council owned estates or properties and it would NOT put me off continuing with the purchase. This is just out of curiosity.

Thanks

I thought the earliest the sold records went back to was the 90s

I live in ex council, and you can tell the ones still owned by them because they have new windows and roofs. They are really well maintained round here.

You can generally tell by the windows and doors. If there are lots the same then they are predominantly owned and maintained by the council.

It's usually pretty obvious if a house on a council estate

What about your local planning portal? If I do a search for my postcode I can find my property and the original developers plans...and can see it was built by Taylor Wimpey.

The houses will be sturdy, there will generally be a mix of a few designs and you'll see them repeated over and over again. They will have decent sized gardens.

This is council built post war only btw, recent stuff or ha stuff won't follow the same rules.

I grew up on the wimpys. I wonder if every estate done by them is known as wimps or wimpy's

Ask the estate agent, they should know.

Your solicitor should be able to find it out easily….like within seconds.

Your solicitor will definitely know as there will be restrictions/covenants in favour of the Council on the title deeds. This is the easiest way of confirming.

That's certainly the case for the records the public can access

In the town I used to live in all the council houses now have solar panels on the roof. (I know that isn't true for council houses everywhere btw).

Well if it's around here - ex council are bigger / great driveways / lots of visitor parking / roads are more spacious / no 3 storey houses and regular bus stops!

They're great!

It will be obvious.

Do the searches not show the history of the property? Try looking at old maps on national library of Scotland website and your Local Authority website under social housing. If some neighbouring properties were sold on at similar times , ie. 80/90s rtb peak, and built to a standard pattern that may indicate it but if many are privately owned does it matter?

I bought a known ex council house.

I wanted to know whether the neighbouring properties were still council as it useful to know who you are dealing with for shared walls, fences etc. in our case a shared porch needing attention.

I looked up the register of works (the schedule for new kitchens, windows etc) and searched them for the street. Gave me a pretty accurate picture.

@Oneblindmouse same here. Except our street for some reason.

But I have put solar panels on so am now giving the impression to everyone else we are the council house!

Where I am the back gardens are small. They weren't designed for people to grow vegetables in.

Generally if you show an image of the house or similar folks can tell just by looking.

Does it not have a sign? In London most council or housing association estates have a sign with the name of the estate and who owns it.

My parents bought their council house. They are on a street of 8 and were not red brick. Agree with previous posters, council properties will have the same doors and windows.

Not if they are all now in private ownership.

Post a pic and I bet we can tell you.

If it doesn't matter why are you going to all this effort to find out?!